American Sam Watson is the fastest climber in the world. He broke the world record he set just two days ago when he won bronze in the Olympic men’s speed climbing final with a run time of 4.74 seconds, 0.01 seconds faster than his last record.
Despite this achievement, it was Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo and China’s Wu Peng who raced for gold and silver. Leonardo won Indonesia’s first gold medal and second overall medal in Paris.
Leonardo and Wu both climbed their personal best times in the big final. Wu got the better start, but Leonardo pushed harder and faster as he progressed up the wall. He beat Wu to the Olympic champion title by 0.02 seconds with a run time of 4.75 seconds.
In the semifinal, Watson had the stronger start over Wu but lost the slight lead. Wu raced a then-personal best time of 4.85 seconds to advance to the big final.
Then Watson faced Iran’s Reza Alipour in the small final. Alipour ran a personal best time of 4.84 seconds in his semifinal climb against Leonardo. He was no match for Watson, who flew up the wall to win the bronze medal and break the world record he set in the qualification round.
Men’s speed climbing medalists
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